[Cheshify] vaporwhisp metacomm permaban appeal

[vaporwhisp]

BYOND account: vaporwhisp

Ban/note type (Check what applies):
(X) - Server Ban
() - Note
() - Forum Ban
() - Discord Ban

Ban/note length:Permanent
Ban/note reason: "n an external Discord with friends, shared meta-information about active shifts. Rules 2 prohibits all instances of metacomms, and doing so in a separate discord server is not allowed."
Time ban was placed: 2023-09-05 19:07:06
Server you were playing on when banned: None
Round ID in which ban was placed: I only have a ban ID but I wasn't playing at the time anyway

Why are you making this appeal?(Check what applies):
() - The ban/note is factually incorrect
() - The ban/note is not against the rules
() - The ban/note needs modification
() - The ban was unjustifiably harsh
(x) - I was permabanned and I want another chance

Why should this appeal be accepted?: I made a mistake. Every one of my metacomms messages were posted without knowledge of WHO was in the round for me to affect in any way, I just didn't check. This is irrelevant, however, because it's not up to me to decide who or what I might affect with a meta message, it's against the rules, flat out. For this, I am sorry. I'd just really like to play SS13 on TG again, because everything else has a thin veneer of "old" on them.

I don't have direct examples of what I did, or why I did them, I did not dwell on it at the time or save anything but, for SEVERAL months, I made a discord with people who I hoped were my friends, we chatted a lot ooc even, so I figured a server would do us good, I established incredibly simple rules of "You know how to act amongst friends" AND "No metacomms". Both of these rules were broken pretty consistently, with a lot of really harsh things said to one another. One day, I found out that one of the members was a massive misandrist, and hated my guts for reasons fabricated by them, so I left. What proceeded was apparently a massive storm the likes of which neither I could never have possibly anticipated.

It did me a LOT of good, however, because it taught me that only two of those people actually were my friend, and it taught me to never make another metagang again. I've only been in communication with Potassium (she's in my FFXIV Free Company) and Carshalash, due to mutual appreciation of tokusatsu nonsense.

I've not played much SS13 since the ban, few rounds on Monkestation, few rounds on Yog. I've never been good at writing concise forum posts or getting my point across in a "well sorted" manner so... thank you for your time and consideration. free me

[Cheshify]

Going to be taking a crack at a response today, still need to talk with the headmin team and review everything.

[Cheshify]

I'm going to be very blunt, why should we trust your word when you've previously made several great breaches of trust by participating in and condoning months of metacommunications? What has changed between then and now that can give me cause to accept this appeal and trust that there won't be a second metacord?

[vaporwhisp]

To be honest, I'm not sure there's an answer that could BE satisfactory. I could go and maybe get a vouch from Yog or Bee, but does that mean I didn't metacomm, or that I didn't get caught? As you said this one took MONTHS to dig up.

You're right that I was complacent, and gave no more than a cursory scolding to anyone who broke the cardinal rule. Because I didn't see it as harmful at the time. "Oh this isn't that bad, it's fine". This is a series of egregious errors made by someone who wanted to fit in to a group. It doesn't excuse the behavior but I was really lonely at the time, so jumping on the bandwagon was really easy.

I have nothing to prove to you that I am genuinely sorry about any and all damage my trust breaching behavior has done in the past, but my words.

What's changed then? I have a group of friends outside SS13(they don't even play it), who genuinely care about each other and our mental health. I'm in no danger of backsliding and repeating this behavior because I don't feel the need to try to MAKE metafriends in this game any more. I can provide any proof you wish, if you wish. I'm not in contact with any of those people any more.

I'm just hoping that my relatively clean record, and my recalcitrance can get me a second chance.

[dendydoom]

howdy, this has sort of become a headmin-owned ban and we've been discussing it internally.

second chances often come cheap in this community, but third chances are not. with respect to this, i feel that it's important to not set you up for failure and try to impress upon you how much of a headache this was to resolve at the time.

my understanding is that you ran and facilitated this discord server. i sincerely appreciate that you've been open and forthright about your involvement and that you are willing to take responsibility for it. you've made no fuss and spent a sizeable amount of time out of the community.

i was involved in the original investigation, which had to be closed and re-opened several times, and caused a lot of burnout both in the admin team and in the playerbase. it was not an enjoyable experience, it cost good people a lot of their time and stressed them out to no end. it is something that i personally do not wish to repeat, nor do i want to ask other admins to put themselves through it.

our rules on metacomms are very clear. there is lenience around the interpretation for a lot of rules, but in this instance, there isn't. it is cheating.

organized cheating to this degree where players co-ordinate and share information creates a very insular community of gatekeepers to the creative space, which is not endorsed by us and has no oversight. by your own admission you were not in control of this situation.

no matter how bad your round may become because of someone else, you are doing infinitely more harm to our community by taking it into your own hands and facilitating channels of communication for people to cheat. players who rationalize this are over-invested in the game and need to consider re-assessing their relationship with it.

a line must be drawn somewhere, and with metacomms it is unshakeably drawn here. do not discuss or share information about ongoing rounds. our game cannot work without people honouring this rule.

if you care about this place and this community, please do not ever involve yourself in something like this again. you will be under more scrutiny for it going forward until we have rebuilt our trust in you as a player.

thanks for your time.

[Cheshify]

As Dendy said, being accountable for your actions and owning up to the mistakes made is a good first step to rebuilding trust with the community and admin team at large. I appreciate how you've gone out of your way not to make false promises or excuses for yourself, and as such I'm choosing (with the help of our current and the future headmin team) to lift the ban.

[vaporwhisp]

I thank you for your time, and hope to never ever cause anyone such trouble again.

[Cheshify]

Let me know if there's any issue reconnecting, otherwise; welcome back.